Why Do We Engrave

[jlseymour]

Why Do We
Jl

 

[Big-Un]

I like the challenge of trying not to mess up a good piece with some errant scratching!

 

[monk]

creative fires began burning in me about 35 years ago, or so. oil painting, wood, stone, and metal sculpture.
playing drums and trumpet. none of that would bring a dollar. satisfaction, but no dollars. i discovered engraving. satisfaction came very slowly followed even more slowly by cash flow. fortunately, cash flow has become somewhat rewarding, and my hobby of engraving pays in money. i would still do it if there was no money coming in. a graver is inextricably stuck in my hemisphere, never to come out !

 

[dclevinger]

Why, for the fortune and fame of course! ha-ha-ha

For me, engraving allows me to express myself on a canvas that I very much enjoy, i.e. guns and knives. As a friend of mine put it " We are creating functional art." An engraved rifle will put meat on the table and that knife with gold inlay cuts just as well as their plain jane counterparts but they look better doing it. And it really is alot of fun once you gain some confidence with your tools and design skills. That's how I feel about. David

 

[Brian Hochstrat]

I think it is an outlet for creativity or the artsy side of or minds, it is for myself anyway. I have always been artistic but never found anything I was really interested in, of course I could draw but, that and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee. At age 17 I started apprenticing, building custom saddles, this involves leather carving which, I really enjoy, at the time it was an artistic challenge, same as learning to engrave, still today, 15 years later I still enjoy it, but there came a piont where it became less of a challenge, and there came my progression into the engraving world. I started as a bright cutter, building and engraving silver saddle trim for my saddles, however I started playing around with relief engraving and bulino work and I became enfactuated with it, because as most know it is difficult to master but the results are unsurpassed, so here we are, two years later and its getting better and I still love it. It also helps I can get paid for my efforts, most of the time. Brian

 

[RoycroftRon]

I just really like the medium of metals. I have been a chaser/repousse artist for a while and have recently delved back into engraving (I had an introduction to it in college but concentrated on metal spinning and chasing at that time). I find that a removal process, such as engraving,lends itself better to a precise functionality item as opposed to a chasing process (parting the metal that can lead to some deformation of the material - no material is lost just parted and moved).

 

[Bill Tokyo]

A simple way to work on watches

Compared to most of the work one does to customize a watch, which involves a considerable investment in tools and machinery, engraving is a simple way to work on watches. In my mind engraving also includes working
with a jewelery saw to skeletonize watches.

It's also relatively inexpensive in terms of both tools and machinery.

This may sound a bit odd in that it may not sound like I have any creative fires burning in me, but I think everyone
on this forum is highly creative.

Bill

 

[Sam]

Because undecorated metal just bugs me.

 

[Darren]

I have asked myself that same question many times over the years.

 

[Steve Adams]

Destiny, fate, or more likely I just fell into it. That is how I started, but why I continnue is another thing. I think to do something this long must mean the challenge, creativity and uniqueness keep me interested. Besides that, the work to date has kept me employed and provided a decent living. It's nice to go through life satisfied with the trade you practice. Notice I didn't say trade you've mastered. I learn every day, and as I look at the work displayed on this site I realize how much there is still to learn.

 

[Lee]

I was looking for a high paying alternative to farming. Sold the family farm last summer...........................still looking for the high paying alternative.

 

[KSnyder]

To escape & create something other than the mass produced imported crap so common in present time.
At shows I love to hear, "did you do that with a dremel"?
Kent

 

[Raul Hinz]

I want to expand my art from gold and platinum to steel . and maybe retire on the side of a mountain engraving guns

 

[Ken Hurst]

Just can't tolerate a nicely hand finished firearm -----oh yeah, and I like squigly lines. Ken

 

[Tira]

When I was first out of school I was a computer programmer in the financial industry. It was a fine career path, but my husband was in the Air Force and we moved about every 2 years. That meant I would get a job, but was never going to be promoted because we moved just about when my ticket would have been punched. My husband and I came up with an entire set of criteria to move me from a job dependant on others to one that would be more independent. Some of the items we considered:

It couldn't take too much money to start.
The tools, etc. would have to fit in the back of a Hyundai so we could take it with us when we moved.
I wanted to do something that would take me a lifetime to learn so I wouldn't get bored.
I didn't want other people to look at it and go home an be able to duplicate it easily/quickly (think crafts)
I wanted something with a very flexible schedule. Ultimately, I wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom who did something rather than a career person that didn't stay home.
I wanted to do something "actual." Computer programming was a theoretical discipline.

After searching for almost 4 years I happened upon engraving, left the computer field and have been happy ever since.

 

[Robert W Waters]

While still a beginner (after ten years of trying), I just want to cut the 'perfect' straight line. I know what it should look like, and some times I believe I come close. I have cut hundreds straight lines but the "ideal" line remains a phantom projected into my imagination. Never the less, I hope to continue my quest until I can no longer see or hold my graver.

My wife asks me what I do all day in my shop hunched over a ball vise bathed in light. I always reply that I'm making scrap metal. I think I'm being honest when I say I'm pretty good at it.

A retired Platonic creator of scrap metal.

 

[Karl Stubenvoll]

I am a goldsmith with my own studio. Precious metal is just neat, and I keep trying to do more with it. My two engineering degrees helped push me this way---after living on a job site for over one year, the creative side of me was climbing the walls and screaming to be free.

 

[Weldon47]

I'm the third generation (that I'm aware of) in my family to become an engraver. I learned from my father who learned from his uncle. I started engraving (firearms) at age 17 and will continue to learn until the day I either die or can no longer engrave! All that having been said, with me it is best defined as an inspired pursuit of passion.

Weldon

 

[pilkguns]

So far Bruder Sam and Bruder Ken are preaching my kind of religion. I just see that blank metal and the spirit just guides me to make something beautiful on it. Even when my hands don't have to time to do the real deed, it'sall pretty in my mind, yes Sir!


where is my Bruder Bearanclaw on dis here issue? i know hes got sum poweful wards on dis here subject!

 

[Andrew Biggs]

The reason I engrave is because it's something special to be able to sit down and design something for an already beautiful blank piece of steel (gun, jewellery, knife etc) And then watch it come to life as you work on it making it even more beautiful.

The variations of what you can create are endless from line to sculpture and everything in between. To me personally, it goes beyond a craft or skill and becomes an art form of self expression. Each piece having a little bit of your soul in it.

Cheers
Andrew